Most of these home systems have a port opened to the main device so the user can check to see if his garage door is closed while he is at work. So, that gives them a way into your network. You have things like Amazon whatever where it listens and if you say its name it will do a search for you. You just need to intercept the packets being sent to that IP... very easy.

I see, so the assumption is there needs to be a device that is already connected and open so that they can get to the network through it.

I'm baffled by the people who use Amazon Echo though, a device that practically listens in on every single conversation you have in your house. I guess some people are too trusting or just oblivious to what's going on.

Isn't the real problem not that the government is going to backdoor (though they likely will as a backup) into these devices but rather that the companies that own them are IIRC forced to give data to the government that they receive from these devices?

And for anyone saying the whole "well we have it with phones" line; the whole point is that this is not only redundancy on what they can siphon from your phone but also a way to better verify the data and increase the inconvenience/difficulty factor of preventing any collection. IE, say someone knows enough to limit the only data that can be collected from their phone to contacts, duration of calls, and tower locations; the government and companies don't like that because it doesn't give them enough information whether to spy on you "for security reasons" or to gain more information they can sell. Now, throw in a fridge, oven, microwave, tv, and so on with their own settings, backdoors, and so on and suddenly its at least double the effort to plug and control the information being siphoned from you. Plus, figuring out where your phone spends its nights while talking to the fridge equals knowledge of your home location.

On the flip side, would we be able to sue for access to this info because I can imagine it could be useful for all kinds of legal defense.

What would surprise me is if people actually did something about it, instead of supporting/justifying it.

Well what can we do when it comes to privacy vs safety? Don't get me wrong I like my privacy and have black tape covering every phone / tablet / computer camera, but I'm also not naive enough to believe we get to hear about all the attacks that mass surveillance stops. Look at Obama, surely he's the type of liberal who would want to end all this privacy invasion, right? I'm sure that he is, but one of the first things that happens when elected, is you get taken to a room where you're briefed on all the evil people in the world (that civilians don't get to know about) and what their plans on. The idealism (another word of this is delusional) stops pretty quickly.

I'm aware that the general rule of the world, is that people in power are where they are for a reason - and it's likely greed, etc.

But, how can people in US even sleep soundly, knowing the crazy-ass stuff that their government get's up to. You can bet that the stuff that leaks is about 1% of it.

There's a reason why Americans are seen in a certain (negative) light throughout the world, and it's not because of its citizens. It's because of its government.

Its not just America but yes it is the citizens fault, you choose or get chosen. IOT devices will create a technological class divide between those who know how to protect themselves and those who cannot either know or care.

Admit if your capable enough even here as a 'techy' to setup PGP email (as one example) or manage vlans,firewalls and ports in the home (as another example ) what about some traffic monitoring ? Thought not, most here probably know how to raise a multiplier or two and get some mean kill streaks on battlefield though. Just as with the IOT devices industry there will be a market for IOT-without devices and there’s probably a lot of money to be had here because proper security experience and knowledge is a high bar of entry for almost everyone.Edited by Pip Boy - 2/10/16 at 2:38pm

Its not just America but yes it is the citizens fault, you choose or get chosen. IOT Spying will create a technological class divide between those who know how to protect themselves and those who cannot either know or care.

Do you think it's for your protection?. Brainwashing at its finest.

Also, who do you think they use as guinea pigs, for all of these 'advancements'. Before they're made to go external, outside of the country...